What's new
  • As of today ICMag has his own Discord server. In this Discord server you can chat, talk with eachother, listen to music, share stories and pictures...and much more. Join now and let's grow together! Join ICMag Discord here! More details in this thread here: here.

MH vs HPS in bloom

Green Devil

Member
There is more than enough scientific data on for example the increase in flavonoids and terpenes in several crops under UV light. Increases up to 400% have been registered in scientific experiments in for example basil, though it is strain dependent how much it will influence them. Now we all know how terpenes influence the experience.

I believe it is also proven that the trichone is the only part of the plant that actually absorbs UVB. There are many plants that have trichomes, tomatoes being a good example. In a good tomato soup some cooks use the stalks for extra flavor. If you have ever been in a tomato greenhouse you will recognize the smell.

As for red and blue colors in your stems and sometimes even in the trichomes: read about anthocyanins

here is an interesting read.

Will read later tonight, thanks!
Can you back that statement up with scientific studies (regarding cannabis)!

Or maybe I misunderstood you now!

EDIT:
Yes I did, was reading too fast.
 

Attachments

  • 35845773.jpg
    35845773.jpg
    30 KB · Views: 28

Talonted

Active member
There is more than enough scientific data on for example the increase in flavonoids and terpenes in several crops under UV light. Increases up to 400% have been registered in scientific experiments in for example basil, though it is strain dependent how much it will influence them. Now we all know how terpenes influence the experience.

I believe it is also proven that the trichone is the only part of the plant that actually absorbs UVB. There are many plants that have trichomes, tomatoes being a good example. In a good tomato soup some cooks use the stalks for extra flavor. If you have ever been in a tomato greenhouse you will recognize the smell.

As for red and blue colors in your stems and sometimes even in the trichomes: read about anthocyanins

here is an interesting read.
So everyone agrees and i have not 1 helpful answer rating? what what:tumbleweed:

I hope this helps Etin, now he can go back and do it right without trying EVERYTHING OUT THERE.
 

Talonted

Active member
This thread appears as a think tank to discuss ways to increase resin. Plant size is not even being discussed.

Follow along and you'll find that UV in the MH in Flower vs a proper sodium lamp is not beneficial but, to add an array of spectrum so as not to confuse the plant. Stress is inhibited through the increased amount of UV in the MH but, does not pose a threat in veg. During fruiting, a cannabis plant is trying to fucus on one stage at a time unless told otherwise by the gardener and having too much uv will slow growth. It will still produce, it will just be underdeveloped or "airy"
 

Talonted

Active member
Long story short, favor the Halide until day 10ish of flower. Then Use dual spectrum while favoring the Sodium to achieve a stout plant with incredibly short inter-nodal spacing and with zero stretch. Works great for vert with height restrictions and works well to keep an even canopy when utilizing a horizontally fixed lamp too but thats a whole other can of worms.
 

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
There is more than enough scientific data on for example the increase in flavonoids and terpenes in several crops under UV light. Increases up to 400% have been registered in scientific experiments in for example basil, though it is strain dependent how much it will influence them. Now we all know how terpenes influence the experience.

I believe it is also proven that the trichone is the only part of the plant that actually absorbs UVB. There are many plants that have trichomes, tomatoes being a good example. In a good tomato soup some cooks use the stalks for extra flavor. If you have ever been in a tomato greenhouse you will recognize the smell.

As for red and blue colors in your stems and sometimes even in the trichomes: read about anthocyanins

here is an interesting read.

All I know is My Hotilux eye HPS bulbs have produced the best results in frostiness and quality that I have had in 12 years of growing. I even did side by side experiments. HPS has been the winner now three times. That is scientifically solid. However I do leave 20 percent blue hortilux bulbs. 4 reds 1 blue in flower. seems to be the perfect balance for my room. 3 times.
 
Last edited:

Bio boy

Active member
Your two lights (HID I assume) should be fine.

This thread appears as a think tank to discuss ways to increase resin. Plant size is not even being discussed.

Many people over-do a lot of stuff to try to get an edge. Fact is, you can grow weed using high bay industrial lights, regular hid bulbs, you can use MH, HPS or even CFL. The trick is adapting to what you have if you in a pinch and maximizing the efficiency the best that you can. If you are not getting enough light move your plants closer, use more reflectors, like under your pots to reflect light back up. You want to a quantum of photons. Bouncing light is okay to add to the numbers. If you get too hot find creative ways to remove the heat. Jorge Cervantes says that controlling heat is more beneficial to the plants than having so much unusable light with associated heat. I am paraphrasing.



it is to a state where there saying certain strains yeild more udner mh than hps, and the dude posted 86gram on hps and 106grams on MH

so yield is being talked about,

my lights are pure hps and pure mh,
 

the gnome

Active member
Veteran
hi bioboy,
that was me with the split plant and why I started this thread.
what I have taken away from it is this...
how your plant performs under MH or HPS is controlled by genetics and breeding indoor strains have undergone.
some strains kill it under MH and other do poorly in the yield dept.
all seem to do well to better in the resin dept.

as far as the fall winter hps thing being better because its
*more orange* is a myth.
the sun doesn't turn into an HPS colored star depending on earths inclination of it polar axis with respect to the sun.
its just ridiculous.
in fall/winter the sun is white all day long like it is all year,
and for a few hours *to a degree* sunrise+set is more orange because your eyes are seeing the sun through *more air* that's *denser* and filled with dust, smog and smoke particulates giving it a reddish orange hue

depending on the amount of RH, dust, smog, all will color sunsets and the more of it in the air the more
colorful we see it,
I mean this is basic high school weather science 101.
the same colors/spectrum of sunlight are *THE SAME*
regardless if its in the afternoon, morning, spring fall summer winter and even at nite when you can't see it.
the sun spectrum is constant.

here's an interesting note on airborne particulates affecting the color of sunsets and even the moon.
when Krakatoa erupted in 1883, it threw an enormous amount of volcanic ash/dust in the atmosphere.
The eruption darkened the sky worldwide for years afterward, and produced spectacular sunsets throughout the world for many months. British artist William Ashcroft made thousands of colour sketches of the red sunsets half-way around the world from Krakatoa in the years after the eruption. The ash caused "such vivid red sunsets that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration. This eruption also produced a Bishop's Ring around the sun by day, and a volcanic purple light at twilight.

For several years following the eruption it was reported that the moon appeared to be blue and sometimes green. Blue moons resulted because some of the ash-clouds were filled with particles about 1 micron wide--the right size to strongly scatter red light, while allowing other colors to pass. White moonbeams shining through the clouds emerged blue, and sometimes green. People also saw lavender suns and, for the first time, noctilucent clouds.

ok, back to the topic at hand...

what makes more practical common sense.
the suns spectrum changes into an HPS horti-eye colored star in the fall and winter
OR
that 20-30 years of indoor breeding has adapted many strains to use the narrow band of usable lite HPS light produces to where they now prefer it over MH that is more like the sun's light
?

dr shio said something very early on in my MH vs HPS thread that made very good sense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrShio View Post
I believe the use of HPS stems from outdated lore. People started using them when indoor growing first started because they had the highest output of any bulb available, in the best spectrum (metal halides were junk). The metal halide technology has progressed considerably since then and has far surpassed the HPS.

People think that stretch happens during flower because they switch their plants from MH to HPS and their plants freak out because the HPS lacks so much spectrum it needs. What the plants are really doing is trying to find the light (even though HPS provides a lot of light, it is not in the right spectrum and enough of it the plant wants).

But here is the reality as i see it :

Each plant is bred a certain way and has genetic predispositions. Therefore the light the plant wants will highly depend on its breeder and genetics. If the breeder selected for largest yield using only HPS, then the plant will likely do best in all HPS. This is the same for fertiization - if the breeder selected for which plant thrived most using synthetics, it will perform best with synthetics - if the breeder used organics, it will perform best with organics.


I believe the indoor strains of cannabis, deep down in its dna still retain the need
and favor the suns natural spectrum with a bulb more closely aligned with the suns spectrum,
and today that would be a MH bulb in the 4000k range.
SO
take that a step further...
and think of how many strains of today that now have been bred with and prefer HPS over MH would do if you back-bred them X amount of generations with a top quality MH bulb that is more inline with the suns spectrum?
after several generations, would it's DNA dominate the need to go back to favor a more natural sunlight over HPS in bloom that all plants prefer?
and maybe do much better than they did under HPS


and when i see pics like this below of cannabis grown in 1-1/2gallons of soil producing 5oz using a $21 MH bulb with a spectrum that looks much like natural sunlight than any HPS $125 horti eye.
it makes me more confident my assumptions are heading in the right direction.


113.jpg

__________________
flying in a blue dream!
 
K

kooldave67

Very compelling. Love this type of thought. Indepth yet still a lot more factors you could bring to the surface of this convorsation.
 

the gnome

Active member
Veteran
Very compelling. Love this type of thought. Indepth yet still a lot more factors you could bring to the surface of this convorsation.

I've been formulating on about for around a year now.
I'm not against HPS and like everyone else used it unquestioningly in bloom all the time.
but doing a bit of experimenting adding MH into bloom trying to increasing resin/trich production
and then seeing *other unexpected benefits*
and with what others results with MH that run 180degrees opposite of many long standing *norms* associated with HPS in that got me to think *outside the box* about the role of HPS in indoor gardening.
 

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
it's always hard to argue with results. However gnome I would like to see you do a comparison using a horticulture eye bulb, and see the increase in quality. Many other expensive hps bulbs are a waste of money and I admit the hortilux are super expensive, but they make the frostiest buds I have ever grown. I do like 1 MH bulb though still. it seems the 20% mh and 80% percent HPS has been the best results of the combos i have tried.
 

the gnome

Active member
Veteran
I see your point hash, and agree its hard to argue with results.
I run 2000w in my garden,
all i ever used were cheapo no name HPS bulbs.

the grow before the one that got me to start this thread
I took the plunge and bought 2 horti eyes.
I did 1 grow both of them,
next grow I ran a horti eye and a 7200K sun master and thats the grow where i got the results
and started this thread.

i got a great deal on the horti eyes, $100 each so I went for it.
but I was disappointed that my cheapo generic HPS bulbs work as well.
of course i run multi strains and maybe the horti eyes would have done differently
in a different situation.
I'm knot knocking horti eyes,
just seeing that they aren't needed to get great results as others have had with them.
like vapes $21 Mh.

as I and others have said over and over in this thread, strain i the deciding factor on it.
it just doesn't get said enough in here and after 3-4 pages its not relevant and the discussion
is back to square one. no one starts this thread from page 1, or very few do.
the 1st 10-15 pages of this thread have the best info imo.

if your happy with HPS, use it.
if you don't get the results you wnat with MH then go back to hps
or try another strain.
all Ive done is showing there's other ways to get great results in bloom without HPS.
i'm not here and haven't tried once to convince anyone this bulb is better than that bulb etc etc.
I was content with HPS in flower, the plant that started this thread excelled under MH and gave me ?? what?? 60% more weight.
that plant did fine under HPS, I was happy with the resukts......


until I saw what that plant could do under MH :smoke:
 
Last edited:

whazzup

Member
Veteran
rant mode: sorry, wanted to write a short comment but I drifted - amnesia haze does that toe me!

Though I agree with the gnome on how we got to growing pot under HPS in the first place (the bad quality metal halide lamps available) there is one thing that really has been fortunate for us grower: Cannabis loves red light - but that doesn't mean it doesn't need all the other colors of course.

You need to take two things into account:

1. PAR photon flux (quantity)
2. Spectrum (quality)

The reason why they use HPS in greenhouses and why it works so well is that they are very efficient (quantity) and they have sunlight (quality) to compensate the blue light that they are missing. Because of the lack of blue light in the long dark winters in Scandinavia they mix MH with their HPS in the winter. Philips recommends to use supplemental MH lights when you use Greenpower HPS in a climate room. It's everywhere in professional horticulture.

So in greenhouses and various scientific studies they investigated how much blue light you need, (mainly to see how much HPS you can add). Also there are studies about how artificial sunlight influences the growth of plants compared to for example HPS or CFL. It's all pretty well documented and if you start to really research and go through trial and error yourself you will see the benefits in MH. If you don't, you took a wrong turn somewhere ;). Also in horticulture they grow under MH alone in Europe, for example tulips indoor and herbs.

Still, MH is not very efficient and stable and even the best CMH lamps are only available in medium wattage (up to 400W) and they are still not as efficient in generating photons as HPS. I have grown under all of them, and in all combinations at the same time with the same strain in the same climate. And in my experience adding good spectrum does add quality to the crop. However, the biggest yields I still obtained with HPS, though the MH/HPS grows come close (at the same light levels). When you compare energy needed versus yield, or gram per watt if you wish, HPS is at this moment imho the best choice. On the other hand I truly believe in adding quality light to add to the quality of the end product, the health of the plant, its resistance against diseases and basically the joy of growing. With light you can influence the morphogenesis and lots of other processes in a plant and basically it needs all colors.

If the number of fixtures, the investment in hardware, the expensive lamp changes (compared to high wattage HPS) and the increased energy costs are not an issue then a true daylight solution is a great thing. We sold plasma solutions to the plant research industry where they use 4 fixtures per square meter to create high quality sunlight simulations . From an ROI point of view in a production environment it is not always the best solution of course. A mix of efficient light (HPS) and quality light (CHM or plasma) is also a valid, efficient and high quality way of growing too and imho combines the best of both worlds:

- high efficient PAR output in high output (that is easily used by the plant) from the HPS
- high quality light from the supplemental light.

I am not so sure if plants adapt so fast genetically to an indoor growing environment. Their whole make-up and chemistry is based on sunlight for millions of years. If you go back into the genetics many strains are inbred for many generations under HPS but they still do great once you put a seed in the soil outdoor in California, or in a greenhouse. I am growing strains that are one generation away from the original land race and they do fine indoor and outdoor. But so do a lot of the new bred varieties.

Shantibaba recommended to put your mothers outdoors in the summer, to catch the healthy sunlight to rejuvenate the plants. I can see the logic in that.

All the fuzz in the scientific lighting world is about colors you would never thing about, such as green and yellow. But also full continuous spectrum and UV (also because of the increasing UV levels on earth) has a lot of attention. That last thing is interesting, as it tries to predict how plants will react to this increase in UV light and how it will influence life on earth that way. But that's a different discussion.

Now for you breeders, here is another interesting observation: Some professional breeders and researchers dislike HPS in their greenhouses in the winter because some of the phenotypes they get during the summer do not express themselves under HPS in the winter. hmmmm....

lol /end rant. Hope the links give a bit food for thought.
 

the gnome

Active member
Veteran
rant mode: sorry, wanted to write a short comment but I drifted - amnesia haze does that toe me!
lol /end rant. Hope the links give a bit food for thought.


thanks for posting that whazz,
definitely *good* food for thought.
and enjoyed your post of gentics and the indoor/outside aspect you presented

Ive only been growing indoors for less than 3 years,
outdoor since the 70s.
I'm still a bit overwhelmed by how much there is in taking a plant from its natural habitat and getting it to excel indoors,
its a piece of cake to take and get it to grow
and fruit *adequately imo*,
but to get it to excel is a different story to me.

i also inteneded for a quick post but things kept popping up in the head and ended up a bit winded hehe :)
my current grow is a multi strain and i use 1 hps and 1 Mh
it seems a happy medium, but I am also trying to segregate the strains as they perform to each bulb.
 

ellinho

Active member
some great input guys, thanks for your posts ... flowering day 16, standard MH and HPS ... will switch the plants around every 2-3 days while watering ... lets see how it works out ...
peace
picture.php
 

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i got a great deal on the horti eyes, $100 each so I went for it.

I get them for 65 bucks each from a wholesaler.

What I wanna see is the 3000 watt bulbs and stuff that one dude was talking about. I bet those get the best results to tell you the truth. you can put them up higher too, mimic the sun.

We know nothing beats the sun for a light source, so the best results are going to come from the brightest thing you can use. The sun provides all spectrum.
 

DrFever

Active member
Veteran
Here's my 2 cents on MH IMO its a waste of time and money i have both lights MH and hordi super HPS etc 1000 watts MH and HPS
While placing plants under MH was like watching paint dry as for growth rates compared to HPS grows.....Metal halides run hotter so wasted energy is created
you here the plants stay bushy under mh you know ??? you can make any plant bushy with HPS as well
I look at mother nature when outdoor plants start to fruit in Autumn and fall the sun is not directly over head, but more to the horizon giving off the yellow sun
I also believe that when placing MH and HPS in flowering stage your confusing the plant
So plant doesn;t know DO i grow FRUITS or DO i grow leafs ??? with the blues in the spectrum could this be why more leafy buds are formed when using MH n bloom stage ????? I know i seen it before my own eyes ....
Now if that's all you have in bloom stage then by all means use it more power the better in flowering right..
but at the end of the day its growing your favorite plants in most efficient manor and HPS has MH beat by far here a few pictures of plants grown under HPS
Everyone is talking about spectrums hell you can grow a plant with a cfl light , bust most importantly which is never really mentioned on here is room conditions how dialed in it is RH and temps feedings etc that's what makes it really happen :peacock:
you can have all the lighting you need but if other stuff isn;t in sink your going to do poorly :biggrin:

PS: i haven't used mh in last 5 years... and i bet if you were to ask any of big growers on here they tell you the same
i go from t'5's to HPS with crazy fast growth and good results
 

Attachments

  • 104.jpg
    104.jpg
    84.8 KB · Views: 29
  • DSCF2494.jpg
    DSCF2494.jpg
    121.9 KB · Views: 23
  • 012.jpg
    012.jpg
    139.7 KB · Views: 26
  • DSCF4511.jpg
    DSCF4511.jpg
    82 KB · Views: 30
  • 001.jpg
    001.jpg
    146 KB · Views: 26

Azeotrope

Well-known member
Veteran
The plants are not signalled to bloom by red light...... They are signalled by the number of hours of dark. All of the spectrum is usefull to the plants at all stages. Different wavelengths stimulate different chemical and growth responses at different levels within the leaf.

Full spectrum will always provide the plant with the best light "nutrition" and enable the plant to fully express it's true genetic potential. Maybe you just don't realize what you are missing because you have been locked into old ways and old indoor mythology for so long??????

It goes way beyond the laughable old "in the fall the sunlight is more red/orange". What about daylight lenght? What about cold/cooler mornings, evenings and nights? What about moisture and humidity changes? I actually provide a cool morning and cool evening effect and closely control temps. I reduce light hours to somewhat mimic daylight lenght changes.

There is a lot more to it than just red, blue, green light (way important) and so on. Best to do what you can to mimic the good old sun and then dial in the rest.
 

the gnome

Active member
Veteran
The plants are not signalled to bloom by red light...... They are signalled by the number of hours of dark. All of the spectrum is usefull to the plants at all stages. Different wavelengths stimulate different chemical and growth responses at different levels within the leaf.

Full spectrum will always provide the plant with the best light "nutrition" and enable the plant to fully express it's true genetic potential. Maybe you just don't realize what you are missing because you have been locked into old ways and old indoor mythology for so long??????

It goes way beyond the laughable old "in the fall the sunlight is more red/orange". What about daylight lenght? What about cold/cooler mornings, evenings and nights? What about moisture and humidity changes? I actually provide a cool morning and cool evening effect and closely control temps. I reduce light hours to somewhat mimic daylight lenght changes.

There is a lot more to it than just red, blue, green light (way important) and so on. Best to do what you can to mimic the good old sun and then dial in the rest.


common sense points AZ :joint:
i can't get over how some low info people think the sun turns into an HPS colored star during fall/autumn, almost leaves me speechless
they days are shorter tho.... :shucks:
wonder if that has anything to do with it.... :chin:
 
Metal Halide is the color of the sun.
HPS is brighter and more efficient, and what greenhouses use as supplemental light, with the sun being the primary source.

Fact, not wishful thinking or ideas.
 

Hash Zeppelin

Ski Bum Rodeo Clown
Premium user
ICMag Donor
Veteran
PS: i haven't used mh in last 5 years... and i bet if you were to ask any of big growers on here they tell you the same
i go from t'5's to HPS with crazy fast growth and good results

to answer your question yes HPS is better and there is a big reason I use it, and that reason is higher quality. I have now done this MH vs. HPS experiment 7 times in a side by side, and the results are scientifically sound. To add to that your whole post was good and i find it disappointing 4 people rated you down. If people want to get a less quality product to save money that is their choice, I like my ridiculous potency though.


MH cheapy




HPS hotilux eye



Well for my personal garden, HPS hotilux eye for the win again 7 times in a row. frost coverage is better and the bud is denser on the hps.
 
Last edited:
Top